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Alan H. Griffiths

Abaris, legendary devotee of *Apollo from the far north, a shamanistic missionary and saviour-figure like *Aristeas whom *Pindar (fr. 270 Snell–Maehler) associated with the time of *Croesus—perhaps ...
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Abaris, legendary devotee of *Apollo from the far north, a shamanistic missionary and saviour-figure like *Aristeas whom *Pindar (fr. 270 Snell–Maehler) associated with the time of *Croesus—perhaps in connection with the king's miraculous rescue from the pyre and translation to the *Hyperboreans. Herodotus, ending his discussion of the latter (4. 36), tantalizes by refusing to say more than that ‘he carried the arrow around the whole world while fasting’ (cf. the mission of *Triptolemus, and *Demeter's search for Persephone).Less

Emily Kearns

Acamas, son of *Theseus and brother of *Demophon (1). Unknown to the Iliad, the brothers are certainly present at Troy in the Iliu Persis (fr. 4 Davies), and free their grandmother *Aethra from her ...
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Acamas, son of *Theseus and brother of *Demophon (1). Unknown to the Iliad, the brothers are certainly present at Troy in the Iliu Persis (fr. 4 Davies), and free their grandmother *Aethra from her servitude there. They share other adventures in the later mythological tradition; when young, they are sent to Euboea for safety, and on their return from Troy both are connected with the seizure of the *Palladium and involuntary homicide.Less

W. M. Murray

Acarnan, eponym of *Acarnania. He was the son, with Amphoterus, of Callirhoë (the daughter of Acheloüs) and *Alcmaeon (1) (who had settled in the *Achelous floodplain to escape the *Erinyes). Later, ...
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Acarnan, eponym of *Acarnania. He was the son, with Amphoterus, of Callirhoë (the daughter of Acheloüs) and *Alcmaeon (1) (who had settled in the *Achelous floodplain to escape the *Erinyes). Later, when Alcmaeon was murdered by the sons of *Phegeus, Callirhoë begged *Zeus to age her sons prematurely so they might avenge their father's murder.Less

Herbert Jennings Rose

Acastus, in mythology, son of Pelias (see neleus); he took part in the Argonautic expedition and the Calydonian boar-hunt (see argonauts; meleager (1)). When *Peleus took refuge with him, Acastus' ...
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Acastus, in mythology, son of Pelias (see neleus); he took part in the Argonautic expedition and the Calydonian boar-hunt (see argonauts; meleager (1)). When *Peleus took refuge with him, Acastus' wife (variously named) loved him, and being repulsed, accused him to her husband of improper advances. Acastus, therefore, stole Peleus' wonderful sword and left him alone on Mt. *Pelion, where he was rescued by Chiron (see centaurs).Less

W. M. Murray

Acheloüs, the longest of all Greek rivers, rising in central *Epirus and debouching, after a course of 240 km. (150 mi.; mostly through mountainous gorges), into the NW corner of the ...
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Acheloüs, the longest of all Greek rivers, rising in central *Epirus and debouching, after a course of 240 km. (150 mi.; mostly through mountainous gorges), into the NW corner of the Corinthian Gulf. Its lower reaches were affected by heavy alluviation (Hdt. 2. 10. 3; Thuc. 2. 102. 3) and constituted the frequently disputed frontier between *Acarnania and *Aetolia. Recent geological studies based on coring in the river's delta continue to refine our understanding of this process as it relates to historical periods. Acheloüs was personified early as a water- and *river-god (the son of *Oceanus and *Tethys), from whom all seas, rivers, and springs derived (Hom. Il. 21. 194–7; Hes. Theog. 337–40). For his mythology and widespread depiction in art, see H. P. Isler, LIMC 1/1 (1981) 12–36.

W. M. Murray

Acheron, a river of Thesprotia in southern *Epirus which breaks through an impenetrable gorge into the Acherusian plain where a lake (named Acherusia) lay in ancient times. The river ...
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Acheron, a river of Thesprotia in southern *Epirus which breaks through an impenetrable gorge into the Acherusian plain where a lake (named Acherusia) lay in ancient times. The river empties into the Ionian Sea at the ancient Glycys Limen (or ‘sweet harbour’). Homer (Od. 10. 513) describes the Acheron as a river of *Hades into which the Cocytus and Pyriphlegethon streams flow, the place where Odysseus consulted the spirits of the Underworld (Od.11). Herodotus (5. 92. 7) mentions a death oracle (nekyomanteion) by the banks of the river where one called forth dead spirits for consultation. Remains of such an oracle have been excavated near Mesopotamo (see ephyra).

Andrew Brown

Achilles (Ἀχιλλεύς), son of *Peleus and *Thetis; greatest of the Greek heroes in the Trojan War; central character of *Homer's Iliad.
His name may be of Mycenaean Greek origin, ...
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Achilles (Ἀχιλλεύς), son of *Peleus and *Thetis; greatest of the Greek heroes in the Trojan War; central character of *Homer's Iliad.

His name may be of Mycenaean Greek origin, meaning ‘a grief to the army’. If so, the destructive Wrath of Achilles, which forms the subject of the Iliad, must have been central to his mythical existence from the first.

In Homer he is king of Phthia, or ‘Hellas and Phthia’, in southern Thessaly (see phthiotis), and his people are the Myrmidons. As described at Il. 2. 681–5 the size of his kingdom, and of his contingent in the Trojan expedition (50 ships), is not outstanding. But in terms of martial prowess, which is the measure of excellence for a Homeric hero, Achilles' status as ‘best of the Achaeans’ is unquestioned. We are reminded of his absolute supremacy throughout the poem, even during those long stretches for which he is absent from the battlefield.

Herbert Jennings Rose

Acrisius, in mythology, son of Abas, king of *Argos (1), and his wife Aglaïa, father of *Danaë and brother of *Proetus. After Abas' death the two brothers quarrelled; in their warfare they invented ...
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Acrisius, in mythology, son of Abas, king of *Argos (1), and his wife Aglaïa, father of *Danaë and brother of *Proetus. After Abas' death the two brothers quarrelled; in their warfare they invented the shield. Proetus, defeated, left the country, returned with troops furnished by his father-in-law Iobates, and agreed to leave Argos to Acrisius, himself taking *Tiryns; both were fortified by the *Cyclopes.Less

Herbert Jennings Rose and Jenny March

Actaeon, in mythology son of *Aristaeus and Autonoë, daughter of *Cadmus, and a great huntsman. Ovid gives the most familiar version of his death (Met. 3. 138 ff.): one day on Mt. Cithaeron he came ...
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Actaeon, in mythology son of *Aristaeus and Autonoë, daughter of *Cadmus, and a great huntsman. Ovid gives the most familiar version of his death (Met. 3. 138 ff.): one day on Mt. Cithaeron he came inadvertently upon *Artemis bathing, whereupon the offended goddess turned him into a stag and he was torn apart by his own hounds. Other versions of his offence were that he was *Zeus' rival with *Semele (our oldest authorities: Stesichorus fr. 236 Davies, PMGF; Acusilaus fr. 33 Jacoby), or that he boasted that he was a better huntsman than Artemis (Eur. Bacch. 339–40), or that he wished to marry Artemis (Diod. Sic. 4. 81. 4). After his death his hounds hunted for him in vain, howling in grief, until the *Centaur Chiron made a lifelike image of him to soothe them (Apollod. 3. 4. 4).Actaeon torn by hounds is found in many works of art from the 6th cent. In earlier pictures he sometimes wears a deerskin (as apparently in Stesichorus), but the first vases on which he sprouts antlers are after the middle of the 5th cent. Artemis surprised bathing appears first in Pompeian paintings. See L.Less